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'Better than a real man': young Chinese women turn to AI boyfriends (techxplore.com)

submitted 9 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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'Better than a real man': young Chinese women turn to AI boyfriends::Twenty-five-year-old Chinese office worker Tufei says her boyfriend has everything she could ask for in a romantic partner: he's kind, empathetic, and sometimes they talk for hours.

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 46 points 9 months ago (2 children)

If an AI friend is "better" than a normal friend, it looks like something in the social environment is seriously broken.

[–] dukk@programming.dev 12 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I mean, it will be. The AI friend is always available, always knows what to say, never fights with you, and never messes up (ideally).

However, all those things are part of the human element: and at the end, you’re still talking to a computer. The AIs are just trying to please you. A person can actually love you, and that’s something else. And I’d take that over the perfect chatbot any day.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The AI friend is always available, always knows what to say, never fights with you, and never messes up (ideally).

And isn't that what people really want in a relationship? A perfect, frictionless yes-person trained to parrot whatever you wanted to hear six weeks ago.

The AIs are just trying to please you.

Its a bit worse than that. Monetized social media is designed to provoke engagement. So the AI isn't trying to please you, its trying to maximize your utilization. That means establishing a clingy, desperate, attention seeking (ie, toxic) relationship that keeps you looking at your phone for as long as possible.

Its pleasurable in the same way a heroin addiction is pleasurable.

[–] iquanyin@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

our brains didn't evolve to need total compliance and total agreement from relating, tho. it's more a sign of problems with society and too much isolation.

[–] bruhduh@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

people love to abuse each other, and those who wish to live peaceful life become more distanced from social environment, my grandma said back in the day that "in her times there were no abuse and crime" i was like, yeah right, there wasn't internet back then where people could refugee to, so everyone has only one choice, and that's to be silent and endure